The PigwACKERS

For lack of sailing news--it is winter, after all--we turn our focus to Wisconsin's favorite sports team, from the meat-packing capital of the Midwest: the Green Bay Packers. After the entertaining 44-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, QB Aaron Rodgers wore a grey knit cap, but it wasn't pulled down far enough to hide the shame.

The game was one for the ages. After a couple of early miscues by the Pack, Atlanta surged to a 24-0 halftime lead, and the rest of the game was a laugher. Early in the third quarter, Atlanta made it 31-0 behind the excellent if robotic play of QB Matt Ryan. The Pack did make a half-game of it, outscoring Atlanta 21-20 in the second half, but most of that was garbage time.

The lopsided loss can't be blamed on injuries, although ego may have contributed. Despite beating #1 seed Dallas last week without Jordy Nelson, he was allowed to play this week with broken ribs. He spent the game running around the field wincing in pain instead of catching passes.

"We wanted to get some hits on them and see how healthy they were," said Falcons linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. Not too healthy, as it turned out. Thanks, Jordy.

As we first reported here, the Packers will never make it to another Super Bowl with A-Rod (heh, heh) at QB—and probably not for many years after he retires. Most people seem to agree. If the Packers can get this close after playing lights-out for two full months—a stretch in which the Pack went 8-0—and still fail to win the NFC, well, you do the math.

Why do we hate the Packers so? For the same reason we hate the Badgers. As the UW football program continues to soar, with six Rose Bowls since 1990, UW-Madison continues to slide academically. Since 1982, UW-Madison has plummeted from the 10th ranked university nationally to 44th, while the football program has gone from a perennial also-ran to a powerhouse. At this point, love for academics and love for football are mutually exclusive.

Of course, there are other educational aspects to sports, e.g. physical and social, and the same is true for the sailing team and for Hoofers in general.